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‘We’ll deal with whoever…’ – Fleck

Date published: July 13 2016

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck is focussing on his side’s next game against the Kings and not worrying about who they might meet in the quarter-finals.

After securing the Africa One Conference, the Stormers could meet either the Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders or even the Hurricanes in the quarter finals. But Fleck said that’s next week’s worry as they host the Kings at Newlands this weekend.

“We’re going to leave that for next week. What’s important is what we do against the Kings. We’ll deal with whoever we play next week,” Fleck told Independent Online.

“Yes, the conference has been won and we’re playing the Kings. They’re a side that have always been in the mix with most teams at half-time, so they’re not an easy side to play.

“We need to find an intensity that we haven’t had this season and that’s what we need to take into this game. It’s actually a very crucial week and game for us from our side.”

Despite resting Springboks Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, the Stormers will have close to a full-side as a group of players return from injury this week.

“The likes of Frans Malherbe, JC Janse van Rensburg, Nizaam Carr… will all report for training and certainly we’ll be looking to make them available for this week, but that will of course depend on their injury status. Oli (Kebble) is also available for selection, but he did go for another scan on his knee today and I’m hoping that he will also be available this weekend,” added Fleck.

“Both Jano Vermaak and Robert du Preez trained with us and they are in the mix for selection. But we want to select the strongest side possible going into this weekend.

“From past campaigns we’ve won the pool or the group prior to the last game and we’ve gone into that game with a plan to rest some players and it hasn’t worked in our favour.

“So we want to play our strongest side available this weekend and play at an intensity that suits the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.”